Some people recommend not discussing politics or religion.  

I'm not one of them.  

Welcome President Obama to Cox Pavilion today!  Anyone else going to be there?  
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From examiner.com:

This Thursday, June 7, 2012, President Barack Obama will make his 10th visit to Las Vegas since taking office. This visit is an official trip, not a campaign visit. The President will focus on student loans and interest rates which are set to double in July if Congress does not act soon.

The President is expected to speak at the Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus around 12:45 p.m., the event is free, but tickets are required and may no longer be available. Doors open to the public at 10:30 a.m., for parking and security information, click here.

Currently the interest rate for a student loan is 3.4 percent; in July, if Congress does not act the rate will double to 6.8 percent.

President Obama and his wife Michelle, have real life experiences with student loans, as both needed them to pay their way through college. They can relate.

   "For the first eight years of our marriage we were paying more in student loans than we were paying for our mortgage,” Obama said recently, “So we know what this is about."

Mitt Romney, the presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican Party, has no such life experiences while attending Harvard. And as we have seen throughout the Romney campaign he cannot relate to most of the life experiences that Americans deal with on a day to day basis.

While this is an official visit, Nevadans can expect to see future campaign visits by the President before November’s election since Nevada is a key battleground State.
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he should go back to kenya

Do you send 30 or 40% of your income to the feds?

I didnt think so.....

Like most parasites looking to steal other people's money, you dont have the courage to do it yourself.  Instead you use politicians to do it for you.

Ironically, you are a free market capitalist but dont support (via your proxies) the free market for others.

...I own two corporations, do this for fun and income along with being an independent contractor at my "day job."

I own a home here in Nevada along with property in the Midwest along with stocks and other investments so there's no way I could get away with not paying taxes.

That said, I certainly do give a sh*t ton of my money to the feds.  

Along with tithing to my church,  donating to human rights organizations along with donating large amounts of time to organizations, lobbying, campaigning, doing phone banks, etc...  

Not trying to be a show off, but these are things that truly do make me happy.  If you know me, you'll know these aspects are HUGE parts of my life.

Do I enjoy paying taxes?  Errrrrrrggghhhh.....  yes and no.  It's painful to give a big chunk of my money away, yes.  It's upsetting that others don't pay their taxes.  But that's none of my business, really.  

After sending those quarterly payments away, painful as they are, I do feel better knowing that I've done my deed as a citizen.

Until things change, if they ever do, I do what the feds ask to me do.  

-- Modified on 6/7/2012 10:20:00 AM

Not that I'd be welcome in that crowd, but I'll be volunteering my time to help elementary and high school children.  I find it laughable that a guy that's babysat the worst economy in recent years tells us that a guy that ran both private and public sector "companies" doesn't have the experience to do the job.  I'm just thankful that I don't have to deal with the traffic nightmare he'll cause.  The only good news is that he's not at his desk, continuing to push everything for the unions, as if the rest of us don't exist.

He's not Obama.  He can't help but do a better job.  You know it's bad when the fix for our housing problem is an earthquake to destroy supply and unemployment is best fixed by an epidemic to kill all the unemployed.

those were the words of obama.  

i like your thinking dogg

Cut taxes for the rich would be great!!!!!!!

Haha everyone is allowed to have an opinion.  If we were all the same, life would be boring

So why is the Campaigner in chief so much better than Romney?

he did what, when?
he has used AF1 more than any other prez to fly (an entourage)  to 'exotic' vacation retreats, etc...and he wins the 'tele prompter' usage rate contest....and he has blamed his predecessor more than any previous prez ha....and i think he is the first to award the Nation's Freedom Medal to a well known Socialist....should i continue to list his accomplishments?

every time his name is brought up, most people haven't forgotten what a poor job he did as president, as evidenced by the article attached referring to a CNN poll. Mitts only card is that he can try to claim that Obama didn't pull our economy out of the ditch sooner. Well, that's a weak argument, and anyone claiming they could have done better has no way of proving it. And, being a venture capitalist doesn't qualify one as being a jobs creator, just a shrewd money maker (not that there's anything wrong with than). Just makes his claim as a jobs creator very, very weak!  But, all of that doesn't really matter, because the bankers, and all the big wigs the the healthcare, pharmaceutical, defense, insurance and the rest of Wall Street will fill Romney's coffers to get him elected!

Even a President that does a bad job has more expierence than a person who has not been president.

I don't know why Romney (Republican money's) campaign is running on the experience platform.

Boycott the election.

IMHO neither party has the solutions or the willingness to do what it takes to make this country what it should be.  Both are addicted to corporate and PAC $$.  I don’t like the “Righty versus Lefty” stuff because when I sit down with most intelligent people they know that on one hand we have to pay some taxes, but we also stand against government waste.  Most of my friends want a government that is responsible on fiscal issues (right), but stays out of my personal choices on social issues (left).  WE must demand better from all of them.  We simply need better options.  I will most likely put my money and my vote with the Libertarian because I don’t feel there can be any real change with the two parties so ingrained.

If ever a narcisist was elected President, its this amateur.

Makes a great talk show host, but he is morally bankrupt.
Beholden to economy wrecking unions and crazed, rabid environmentalists he is the most dishonest man to hold office.

His appeal boils down to "Ill steal from the rich and give it to you, so vote for me"

Sure, Bush was beholden to his special own interets and was a terrible President, but dont fall into the two party trap.  This guy is terrible in his own right and is coming to steal your money

Not a single planet. All 8 planets in the milky way galaxy threatened, they will rather explode!

If you are going to trash somebody, at least get what they did in life correct. Venture capitalists are different than private equity, which is what Romney did at Bain. The former provides early stage financing to high risk start-up companies. See any Silicon Valley company. The latter generally invests in broken or orphaned companies. They either fix it or kill it.

I really don't know how you can write the shit you post, especially considering you don't know what he did for a living.

I wish there were a "Love" button!

If this could become a reality, we as a nation could put election reform on the ballot. It is the only way I can think of to change the sorry and useless two-party system. (two-party being a bit of a joke)

Now granted there could be some really big issues with this (like the stupid prop 187 in CA becoming a federal initiative, among other awful ideas), but short of anything else, we're in a catch-22. Unless we had a president willing to sacrifice a second term to do the right thing. Which is a pipe dream (unless Kucinich somehow got elected).

Excerpt:
The National Citizens Initiative for Democracy is a proposal which will permit citizens to make laws by ballot initiative.

   -Creates a Legislative Initiative process in all jurisdictions of government, most specifically at the federal level
   -Becomes a new check in our system of checks and balances
   -Does not modify Congress, the Presidency, or the Judiciary
   -Endorsed by highly respected people
   -NCID evolved from an earlier iteration called "National Initiative for Democracy" (NI4D). Updates have been made throughout the site as practicable.

http://ni4d.us/
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To learn more about what a quagmire we're in and why we need real change, see this:

THE BEST GOVERNMENT MONEY CAN BUY?
http://thebestgovernmentmoneycanbuy.com/

Synopsis:
THE BEST GOVERNMENT MONEY CAN BUY? is the first behind-the-scenes, comprehensive, non-partisan examination of the system of lobbying in Washington, DC.

The cost of election campaigns has spiraled out of control, to the extent that, on average, our representatives spend more than 25% of their time fund-raising.   Even our Presidents regularly interrupt the nation’s work in order to spend time fund-raising!

Raising funds to get elected – that's the key interface between lobbyists and Members of Congress.

The number of registered lobbyists has more than doubled since 2000; their fees have also increased by 100%; and in 2006-7 they spent a staggering $13.5 million per day.  Over the past six years, they have spent more than $13 billion. Would it be naive to conclude that the interests whose money they channel into the political process, expect nothing in return for it?

Veteran documentary film-maker, British-born Francis Megahy, makes a journey of discovery as he tries to answer some questions which puzzle him: who provides the money? What effect does it have? How is it connected to the financing of political campaigns?  And most crucial, is it in the public interest?

Both Barack Obama and John McCain made the issue of lobbyists a central part of the 2008 Presidential Elections. But can any President really change this constitutionally-protected activity? Indeed, can any of us affect this process?

THE BEST GOVERNMENT MONEY CAN BUY? explores the issue through interviews with real Washington beltway insiders, key participants in the process – who often speak with surprising candor.

It is disturbing that in a democracy, such a powerful, effective and un-elected force, which is able to influence profound legislative changes affecting the lives of all Americans, can be so little known and so little understood by voters.

THE BEST GOVERNMENT MONEY CAN BUY? hopes that this documentary will go some way towards enlightening our fellow-citizens, by helping them to discover – as we discovered – just what goes on in Washington.

We hope that it will provoke people into thinking afresh about lobbying, and whether or not it should be subject to any form of control by the American people.

THE BEST GOVERNMENT MONEY CAN BUY? will make audiences of all political stripes pause and reconsider their views on lobbying.

I respect your opinion and hope you respect those of us who are Obama supporters.  :p

VERY WELL STATED.... BIG THUMBS UP.

What most people fail to realize when talking politics is how BLOATED Government has become in the past decade.

Obama wants people to believe that voting for him will return the U.S. to the Clinton years but the reality is that nothing has been done during his term to downsize and make the Federal Government more efficient ---- and spend what they spent during the Clinton years.

Federal Government spending blew up during the Bush years and under Obama, it's gotten even bigger. It seems as if the Libertarians or people like Dr. Ron Paul are the only ones that get it.

Now we are talking about another Stimulus when the last stimulus bill generated the lowest ROI in the history of stimulus bills. Anybody that can support all of the wasted money the Federal Government spends is obviously clueless of what's going on underneath the surface and relying on the lamestream media for their opinions. Damn! We are now paying over 450 Billion dollars a year on just interest payments on all of the public debt that has been racked up. What could all of that money be better used for? Instead.... he wants to tax the people who pay over 80% of all the taxes even more. As if raising another $80 Billion a year is really going to put a dent in anything when the Federal Government is spending $4 Billion dollars A DAY.

In 2004, Obama gave the speech at the DNC convention that it's not a Red America or a Blue America, it's the United States of America that propelled him to rock star fame. Since he took office, the country is much more divided today then I've ever seen it as long as I've been alive.

Sad.... Very Sad.

Obama is clueless when it comes to Economic Matters and right now, we don't need a financially inept President setting agendas that are only making the poor and middle class even poorer.

Slogan of 2012 is "It's a Debt Problem, Stupid."

"But austerity is destroying Europe and should not be done here."

No -- Actually spending FAR more then you bring in for years destroyed Greece, Italy, Portugal, Ireland and Spain.

Germany and Canada have had Austerity measures in place since the 1990's and now both of their economies are FAR healthier then the U.S. Heck.... Germany is the only reason why Europe has not already collapsed so that whole Austerity measures "destroying" Europe is all HOKIE nonsense drummed up by the lefties that are all for printing up more money to save their non debt paying arses.

Go out and spend 1.5 times your income on Providers and eventually you will have to back off and practice some "austerity" measures.

By the way -- as for Nevada. The state budget back in the late 90's, early 2000's was half of what it is today and the state was just Fine. It was not until around 2004 when the budget started going out of control because of all the money that was coming into the coffers when the good times were a rolling.

This can pretty much be repeated in many states across the country. Residents of California and Illinois pay State Income Taxes and those states are technically BK. In FAR WORSE shape then Nevada where Residents pay NO State Income Tax.

As if the Tourists in California don't get raped.... PUHLEASE!

Georgie exploded the Debt..... Obama came right in and exploded the debt even more and has no sustainable plan to fix anything.

Printing up Trillions does nothing in fixing a long term problem. Just look at the Greece debacle for the past two years.

Time for a New President that understands what ROI means.

But, can you prove that, as Mitt claims, that in his work with Bain he created more good jobs that what were lost? Until I see the proof I do not believe his claims that his experience at Bain makes him more qualified as a jobs creator. I'd say that is more the issue.  

P.S. The average job at Staple or some pizza joint don't count in my book!

well said MDA.
I'l add:  Are you better off today than under Reagan?
under Bush #1?
under Clinton?
under Bush #2?

if you said 'no', then why?

As for a divided country, agree, more dividied than ever in history...that's due in large part to the chief Dem class warfare he's given us....every one hates anybody who makes a buck more than they do.....make the current pretender a one termer!  cannot get any worse.

Holy crap you are dense.  The stimulus was a giant friggen slush fund for Obama and his Democrat buddies and nothing more.

you gotta be shitting us all.l.
You want MORE handouts to Obama's jockstrap crowd?  
OMG.....WTF happened to the world's greates country?
Socialism, corruptness and ego brought to us by the "we can't wait for Change crowd"......

First, Bain Capital does have a venture capital subsidiary, Bain Capital Ventures.

     Second, the media has hopelessly confused the two, sometimes using venture capital and private equity as being synonymous, although are they are fundamentally different business approaches as St. Croix points out. So you probably did read various media describing Romney and Bain as venture capitalists.

     Now, as I understand it, Romney did spend most of his time at Bain on the private equity side. But here is why you are effectively correct in referring to him as a VC guy - when he claims he created a 100,000 jobs, he is primarily referring to Staples and the Sports Authority which were venture capital investments of Bain.

I got stuck in the traffic mess he created at the  Airport. I did get to flip off is limo when he went by.This clown is an international joke. Secet leaks.American gun rights are being challenged by his puppet Attorney General while he arms the mexican cartels at the same time.WAKE UP AMERICA!

No he didn't! Neither did you! You went to their website and saw Bain Capital Ventures. Did you take the initiative to look at those companies supported by Bain Capital Ventures? You would have come to the conclusion that Bain Capital Ventures is not really a VC in the sense and definition of a VC.

I got a bit tired after about 6 reviews where Bain's Capital Ventures work looked similar to private equity. Bain's engagement included financing help, strategy development, M&A, etc. Interestingly enough, Bain invested in Village Ventures, which is by definition is a pure VC. Just a reminder, Village Ventures is the VC, not Bain.

So just because the media hopelessly confuses its audience about the definition, responsibility, role, whatever, does not dissolve mattradd, or anyone else's responsibility to do their homework.

Can you, mattradd or I readily quantify that Romney/Bain created 100,000 jobs? No! Can mattradd, you or I summarily reject that claim? No! But understanding private equity aka leverage buyouts, and venture capital models, I would have absolutely no problem putting up any bet that the total number of jobs created exceeded 100,000. One only has to look at the companies Bain supports financially, as a result of their private equity role. Look at their clients websites, more specifically the tab called "careers" or "jobs", and one could easily back into a number of 100K or more. And most of these are not $10 an hour jobs at Staples, but jobs that require specific education and skills, which I might exist are in very short supply in this country.

Another way of quantifying jobs created is the tangible benefit of the investment. Did the investment allow for the design, development, implementation, and marketing of a new product and/or service. Did the investment necessitate the addition of specific skills sets? I can go on and on, but I hope you see my point.





-- Modified on 6/8/2012 9:12:13 PM

The traffic reporters were were going to schedule all of it.

And they did!  ::

I flew to Jamaica and back, no worries.  


-- Modified on 6/9/2012 1:55:02 AM

critiquing my "Rats in California" post, albeit that I think you missed that I was talking about the two legged variety.


   Bain Venture Capital self-describes as being the venture capital arm of Bain and cites "the firms" over 125 venture capital investments in early stage companies:

"Bain Capital Ventures is the venture arm within Bain Capital, which has approximately $60 billion of assets under management worldwide. The firm's history of investing in early stage companies dates back to 1984 with over 125 venture investments since inception. Bain Capital Ventures manages approximately $2 billion of committed capital, has over 70 active portfolio companies, and has offices in Boston, New York, and Palo Alto. The firm has helped steer many ideas to success by working in partnership with management teams, pairing talented and passionate entrepreneurs with industry experts, opening doors to customers, and collaborating on sound long-term strategies."


         That's not good enough for you? Okay let's look at the two specific examples I gave in my post -Staples and Sports Authority.  From the link



"Bain Capital also made venture capital investments from other funds in start-ups and other earlier stage companies that are not included in the performance measure mentioned above. Those venture capital investments included successful investments in Staples, Sports Authority, and Gartner Group.

How many jobs did Romney and Bain Capital create?

While we will probably never be able to measure the true numbers, it seems pretty clear that ‘looting’ is an inaccurate description of what happened with these companies.
There are two ways to look at job creation. The first is to look at jobs created and lost in Bain Capital’s companies at the time Romney left Bain Capital at the beginning of 1999. The second is to look at jobs created and lost in those same companies today. This gives Romney and Bain Capital credit for having invested in those companies when they were young. It is inappropriate to include companies that Bain Capital invested in after Romney left because he did not have any impact on those investments.

While it is difficult, if not impossible, to get employment data on all of Bain Capital’s investments, and not all of the data are perfect, it is possible to look at some of the successes and failures to get a sense of magnitudes.

Among Bain Capital’s investments under Romney, the large job creators are clearly Staples and Sports Authority. Both of these were small, young companies when Bain Capital invested in them. Bain invested in Staples when it had only one store, so there were likely fewer than 200 employees at the time. Bain appears to have invested in the Sports Authority when it had fewer than ten stores. Unfortunately, there are no public data to say how many people were employed at that time. At the end of 1998, Staples had more than 42,000 employees, Sports Authority had almost 14,000, Gartner Group had almost 3,000, and Steel Dynamics had over 500. So at the beginning of 1999, when Romney left Bain Capital, these four companies alone employed almost 60,000 total employees. While some of the job growth at Sports Authority came from acquisitions, there is no doubt that these four companies created tens of thousands of jobs over the period."



  Now it's back to Rats in California for you, St. Croix, LOL.

said so very well!!!
make'em a one termer!

said so very well!!!
make'em a one termer!

I certainly hope not!  I'm volunteering my arse off phone banking, going door to door, etc...

Nevada was a swing state during our last election and I'm effing proud of my work and discussions with undecided voters.  So many people weren't even going to vote at all!!!  Vote for someone but sheesh, please vote!

And if more people volunteered for the candidate they support, imagine the changes that could be made!  

Namaste.